Combination wet and dry pipe valve.



W. N.. BALLARD.

Patented Dec. 12, 1916-.

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@xmi g. y H Wilda/ii )ffiaZlgzrd, BY 7 v ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM N. BALLARID, OF KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.

COMBINATION WET AND DRY PIPE VALVE.

Application filed May 6, 1916.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, VVILLTAM N. BALLARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Wyandotte and State of Kansas, have invented certain.

new and useful Improvements in Combination Wet and Dry Pipe Valves, of which the following is a specification,

My invention relates to a con'ibimition wet and dry pipe valve, and one object is to pro vide a valve for sprinkler systems which will satisfactorily perform the functions of both a dry pipe valve and a wet pipe valve.

The valve is adapted to be placed at the base of an automatic sprinkler system installed throughout abuilding to protect the same from fire, and said valve is adapted to be held in normal or closed position by either air or water pressure, as will hereinafter appear. The valve is so arranged that it 'will become automatically converted from a dry pipe valve to a wet pipe alarm valve in case the air pressure thereon weakens to the valve tripping point, or-when the water pressure on one side of the valve tends to open the same against the weakening air pressure on its opposite side.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel valve mechanism which when relieved of air pressure will open without shock or liability of damage to the mechanism.

Another object of my invention is to pro vide a pipe valve mechanism-i which is simpl in construction, not liable to get out of order, which is efficient in operation, cheaply manufactiu'ed and easily and econominally installed, and in which easy access .F i and f Substantially may he had to the internal mechanism thereof.

Other objects'of the invention will hereinafter appear, and in order thatsaid invention may be fully understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying draW- ings, in which:

Figure 1-is a vertical sectional view of the valve casing and seats, with the valves in closed position in solid lines and open in dottedlines. Fig. 2 is a. detail of an arm and a valve to which it is connected- Fig. 3 is a cross section, reduced, on line III-III of liig. 1. Fig. 4 is a. modified form of valve.

Referring now in detail to the differentpa-rts,.1 designates the valve easing which is, preferably, of the. angular form disclosed by uniform diamwhich may be Patented Dec. 12, 1916. Serial No. 95,824

eter throughout. The lower end of the cas- 111g 1 18 adapted to be connected to asupply pipe (not shown) containing water under klcr system (not shown). The valve casing 1 is divided into a lower chamber 2, an inter mediate chamber 25, and an upperchan'iber 4 by means of a vertically arranged valve seat 5 and a horizontal valve seat (1.

The valve seats 5 and (l are, preferably, annular and the valve seat- (3 is threaded into the casing l. The valv'e seat 5 is slidably mounted in a transverse annular flange 7 on the interior of the casing. Two stop rings 8 and S) are mounted on the valve seat 5 at opposite sides of the flange 7 to limit the sliding movement of said valve seat. The

exterior of the valve seat 5 is embraced by a.

snugly fitting ring gasket 10 of compressible n'iaterial such, for instance, as lead, adapted to be forced by water in the chamber 2 tightly against the periphery of said valve seat 5 and one side of the flange 7 and thus seal the joint between these parts. One side of the flange 7 is beveled to form an annular wedge shaped groove between it and the periphery of the seat. It is obvious that when the gasket 10 is forced by the water pressure toward the apex of the groove said gasket wi l snugly'embrace both the periphery of the valve seat 5 and the beveled side of the flange and thus eifectlr ally seal. the intervening joint.

11 designates avertically arranged valve mounted at its lower side upon a. pin 12 and adapted to close the valve seat 5 and prevent the passage of water from the chamber 2 to the held in closed position by another valve 13, through the intermediacy ofa lever 14 and a rod 15, which latter is pivoted at one end to said valve 13 and at its opposite end to the. free terminal of the lever 14. The valve 13 normally closes the seat 6 and is mounted upon a pivot 16. The upper end of the lever 14 is pivoted to a. lug 17 and connected inter-- intermediate chamber 3-. The valve 11 is.

to the interior mechanism through an opening 22 in one side of the casing l i'u'irmally closed by a hinged door 23 firmly held in closed position by screws In ease of lea kage past the valve 11, the water leaking into the intermediate chamber 3 will run out through a hall drip valve 2.). To more quickly drain the ehamla-ur 3, a discharge pipe 26 leading, therefrom provided and has a shut off valve 27.

28 designates a drain pipe leading from the chamber '1 and provided with a valve 25, and 30 designates a pipe through whieh air is forced into the chamber -l to provide the proper air pressure upon the valve 13 to hold the same on its seat ti. The. passage of air through the pipe 30 controlled by a valve 31.

In practice, when the, valve is adjusted for a dry pipe system the valves '11 and 13, are closed and air pressure is admitted to chamber -.t to hold valve 13 cloaed, which in turn holds the valve 11 against its seat through the. intermediaey of the rod 15 and the lever 11. \Vater under pressure is then admitted to'the chamber 2, and flowing against the *aive l1 and its seat 5. forces the latter against the former and compresses the lead ring ,Q'asket ll) against the periphery of the seat 5 and the beveled side. of the flange '1", thereby reliably sealing the intervening joint. With the parts arranged as disclosed, approximately, half of the ater pressure against the. valve 11 is borne by its pivot 12, while the other half is transferred to the upper valve 13 through the lever 11 and the obliquely-arranged rod 15. A part; of the pressure exerted against. the valve 13-3 is borne by the pivot 11' so that". a relatively small amount of air preasure exerted upon the. valve 13 will overcome the large amount of pressure exerted by the. \vater'against the valve 11 and thus reliahlv hold the. two valves to their seats. The required air pressure upon the valve 13 may be l'urther re.- duced by proportioninu the. parts so that the rod 15 may be adjusted I1":1lt! to a. parallel position with said valve 13, (Fig. 2). as the nearer such relation is attained the more the lifting pressure on. the valve 1-; is transferred therefrom to its pivot 16.

Should a sprinkler head open from any eaus and thus reduce thepreswr ol' the air upon the valve 123 .sullir-ientlv in allow tho water pressure against the valve 11 to open tho same, the water will flow through the. intermedialo rhamber l. and pass upward into the. system through tho ehamher l-. {is th vulva ll opens,it,throu;1jh the inlernicdiupv of the lever 11 and the rod 15, r tarls to open the. valve 1 so that. when the \\j:l 1( 1 impinges against. the underside of said valve 3 itfully opunstho latter to the dotted lineposition Fig. 1. ln the. meantime the valve 11 swings clear ol? the lever 1t and the. pressure in the opens to the dottedline position and the water is free to flow unimpeded through the casun r 1 to the. sprinkler heads, when the valve 13 opens, it, through the intermediacy of the rod 15 and the lever 14 carries the valve 19 away fromtho tube 20 so that a portion of the water may flow unobstructed to thealarm system.

'hen the purpose of the water has been etfeetcd, the water supply is shut oil, whereupon the valve l3 drops by gravity to its seal. it and earries the valve 15) through the 'lIll1l'lllC1lliU') ot' the rod 15 and the lever 11. to its seal: against the tube 20, where it is held by pressureof the water in the chamber and shuts off the alarm. If the system is to continue in use as a dry-pipe system the water is drained off through the pipes 21; and 2S, and the valve 11 is closed, but; if it is to be used as a wetpipe system thevalve ll is left open and water is admitted to the $131,011! until a sullieientquantity has accumulated above the valve 13 to hold the same (dosed until another sprinkler lnad opens.

From the foiegoing it will be understood that when a sprinkler head opens my valve lmcomes autoimttieally converted from a dr pipe to a wet. pipe valve, and continues: as a \vetpipe valve without attention or adjnntnu-nt of any kind after the sprinkler head is closed and water is again turned into the system. My'valve also is automaticall converted from a dry pipe to a WQt pipe, valve it the air under pressure in rhamber -l condenses or'becomes sutficiently reduced from other causes to allow-the valve to trip. When this occurs the. water flows through the. .valve and to the alarm until QVfiiltfIl! eqnalizes, whereupon the valve 13 closes by gravity and allowsa'alve'ltl to be seated by pressure of the water in ehamber 3, and shut otl' the alarm.

()wing to the ease with which the valve 13 ran open the valve 19, due to the. leverage obtained through the rod 15 and the lever 1-1, said valve. 19 and its seat-navy be made considerably larger thannsual and thus-in- --au'e a sullieient supply of water to the alarm to properly operate the same. The leverage referred to also is sullieient to readily nuseat the valve 1!), should itcorrode and tend to stiek to its seat. To compensate for the HlHltt: oeeupie d by tho lever H and the rod 15 when the valve 13 is open, tho-port throughptho valve. Heat. ,(3 is made slightly larger than the port througlrthe seat 5, so that the. llow of water through the seat 6 will he unobstruried.

the parts are the same. as in Fig. 1, exropt .that the lower end of the valve ease 1 exfeuds. at an angle. of tort-y-fivo degrees to ing connections to horizontal supply pipes, while the type disclosed by Fig. 4, is used in making connections to vertical supply pipes.

\Vhile two forms of the device have been disclosed, it is obvious that various other modifications in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts-can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims.

Havingthus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: y

1. In a pipe valve of the character described, a casing, a valve seat therein, a valve adapted to bear against said seat, an alarm tube extending into said casing, a valve to.cl0se said alarm tube, a lever pivoted to the interior of the casing and having the last-mentioned valve pivoted thereto, and -a rod pivotally connected to the first valve and the lever and adapted to unseat the alarm valve when said first valve opens.

2. In a pipe valve of the. character described, a casing, two valve seats therein, two valves adapted to hear respectively against said seats, a rodconnected to one of said valves and adapted to transfer pressure at an angle therefrom against the other valve, an alarm tube communicating with said casing,'a valve to close said alarm tube,

and a lever carrying the last-mentioned valve and connected to the above-mentionec rod.

3. In a convertible device of the character described, a casing having two valve seats arranged therein at an angle to each other, upperv and lower pivoted valves mounted inde 'icndently of each other so that both may be closed. or a certain one may be left open and a member extending at an angle from the upper valve and adapted to exert pressure on the lowervalve when closed. in accordance to the angularity of said member.

4. In a convertible device of the character described, a' casing having two valve seats arranged therein at an angle to each other, upper and lower pivoted valves mounted independently of each other so that both may be closed or a certain one may be left open and a rod pivoted to the upper valve to extend obliquely therefrom and exert pressure on the lower valve when closed, in

accordance to the obliquity of Said rod.

Tu a device of the character described, a casing, upper and lower valves pivoted to said casing. a lever pivoted to the casing and adapted to bear against the lower valve when closed. ans-alarm :alve carried by said lever, an alarm tube against which said alarm valve is adapted to seat, and a member 0])(5till)ly(l()llllfl('tt(l to the upper valve and said lever to'hold the. latter firmly against the lower valve when closed and unseat the alarm valve when the upper valve opens.

. nected to the free end of said lever and the first valve whereby the alarm valve is'unseated when the first valve opens.

7. In a pipe valve of thecharacter described, a casing, a valve pivoted in the upper portion of said casing, an alarm valve'arranged beneath the first-mentioned valve, a lever pivoted to the inner side ofthe casing and upon which the alarm valve is mounted, and a member pivoted, at its ends to the first-mentioned valve and the lever to coact with the latter in unseating' the alarm valve.

8. In a pipe valve of the character described, a casing, a valve pivoted in thejupper portion of said casing and adapted to be held in closed position by air pressure thereon, a rod connected to said valve, a member pivoted at one end to said casing and at its opposite end to the free end of said rod,-a valve pivoted in the lower portionot' the casing and against which said member bears, and a movable seat held by, water pressureagainst the lower valve, a portion of said pressur being transmitted to the valve pivot, the remainder being exerted against the free end of the memberlOO and transmitted through the rod to the up- 7 per valve where a pal-tot the. pressure is exerted on the pivot in a plane parallel to said upper valve, the remainder of the pres sure tending to lift said upper valve against the air pressure on .the top thcrcot.

S). In a pipe valve oi .the character described. a casing, two valvc seats thereinf two ,valves adapted to bear respectively against said seats, and a rod connected to one of said valves and c.\ 'tcliiling at an angle therefrom to the lrco side ol' the other valve, and adapted to transl'c'r pressure.

from the lower 'valve to the upper. valve" obliquely lhcrctoja part ol said pressure 

